. . . . . . . . . .

..........Schools for the Future

The Impact of ICT onSchools:Classroom Design andCurriculum Delivery

A Study of Schools in Australia, USA,England and Hong Kong, 2000.

Gillian M Eadie , M.Ed., BA., Dip Tchg, LTCL, MCSNZPRINCIPAL, Samuel Marsden Collegiate School, Wellington, New ZealandWinston Churchill Millennium Fellow

February 2001

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TABLE OF CONTENTSACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.........................................................................................4

INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................6

Research Objectives ................................................................................................6Scope Of The Study .................................................................................................7Research questions ..................................................................................................7

RESEARCH QUESTION ONE ....................................................................................9

HOW IS THE AVAILABILITY AND USE OF ICT CHANGING THE USE OF EXISTINGCLASSROOM SPACES?.................................................................................................9

Introduction:............................................................................................................9Thinking differently about teaching spaces.............................................................9What is the Ideal Classroom? ...............................................................................10Tomorrow’s classroom..........................................................................................10

SO WHAT IS REALLY HAPPENING IN CLASSROOMS? ....................................................11Re-arranging the existing classroom ....................................................................12

No “front” to the classroom................................................................................... 12Sharing resource spaces ........................................................................................ 12Easily-moved desks .............................................................................................. 12Security needs to be managed................................................................................ 13Shared software.................................................................................................... 13Configurations evolve with use.............................................................................. 13Creating a Business Centre Model......................................................................... 13Central “island” in the classroom........................................................................... 14

Creating new spaces from old configurations.......................................................14Providing centralised, shared facilities.................................................................15Creating a dedicated, flexible classroom space....................................................16Creating virtual classrooms and campuses...........................................................16Schools linked to share classrooms and teachers .................................................17District networks creating on-line learning communities.....................................17Web hosting by an external provider ....................................................................20Classroom redesign for maximum flexibility ........................................................21

Using laptop computers......................................................................................... 21Virtual Learning System (VLS) ............................................................................. 22Flexible facilities in Science.................................................................................. 22Portable Hubs....................................................................................................... 23

Tools for Flexibility...............................................................................................23Laptop carts ......................................................................................................... 23Interactive Whiteboard.......................................................................................... 23Portable presentation system.................................................................................... 25

Wireless technology offers new options ................................................................25Changes in traditional library areas.....................................................................26

RESEARCH QUESTION TWO..................................................................................27

HOW IS ICT USE CHANGING THE WAY TEACHERS AND ADMINISTRATORSAPPROACH CURRICULUM DELIVERY? ......................................................................27

The impact of ICT on student learning..................................................................27The Need For ICT Integration In Schools Recognised............................................. 27Changes in student behaviour attributed to ICT....................................................... 28

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Curriculum Changes Need to be Planned................................................................ 29Reasons for Delay in Integration of ICT in Schools ................................................. 30

THE USE OF ICT IS CHANGING THE WAYS SCHOOLS OPERATE...........30

Rethinking the timetable........................................................................................31Debunking myths about timetabling....................................................................... 31Do all subjects need to be timetabled? .................................................................... 31Breaking out of the timetable “straitjacket” ............................................................ 31

Growth of on-line learning....................................................................................32Web-Based Courses.............................................................................................. 32Consortia of Schools ............................................................................................. 33Powerful School Intranets ..................................................................................... 33

Rethinking what is being taught ............................................................................34Authentic contexts ................................................................................................ 34Using Higher Order Thinking Skills ....................................................................... 34Revising course materials for on-line learning......................................................... 35Providing Structures for Learning with ICT............................................................ 35Promoting Powerful Learning................................................................................ 35“Just in time” learning not “Just in case” ................................................................ 36

Providing real-life learning experiences...............................................................36Teachers collaborating to share and develop expertise........................................38

CONCLUSION...........................................................................................................39

THE FUTURE OF SCHOOLS ..........................................................................................39

BIBLIOGRAPHY......................................................................................................41

APPENDIX 1 ..............................................................................................................43

SUPPLEMENTARY WEBSITE ADDRESSES......................................................................43

APPENDIX 2 ..............................................................................................................46

ABOUT THE AUTHOR..................................................................................................46Mrs Gillian M. Eadie, M.Ed., BA., Dip.Tchg, LTCL, MCSNZ., MNZIM................. 46

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AcknowledgementsThis research was made possible through the support of the WinstonChurchill Memorial Trust, the New Zealand Heads of IndependentSchools’ Scholarship Trust, the Pacific Basin Consortium and the Board ofManagement of Samuel Marsden Collegiate School. I appreciate thetangible importance that each organisation has placed on the vital roleInformation and Communication Technologies are playing, and will play,in primary and secondary education in New Zealand.

Throughout 2000, I have received unfailing support from theseorganisations and from many individuals in New Zealand, Australia, theUnited States of America, England and Hong Kong. My research has alsoextended to IT websites around the world and it has been gratifying toreceive positive responses to my questions from their webmasters.

I wish to pay special tribute to the following people whose interest in, andcontribution to, this project has been inspirational.

Roger Edmonds, formerly of Open Access College, Adelaide, now atEdNA1,Grant Small and the team at Open Access College, Adelaide,Jude Leak and her team from Le Fevre College, Adelaide;Barry Burney, DeCStech2001 Project, Adelaide;Paul Butler, Head of IT, Caulfield Grammar, Melbourne;Ruth Slater, MLC, Sydney;Aidan McCarthy, Kerryl Fleming, Jan McNamara, Julie Robinson and EricSymes of John Paul College, Brisbane;Terrina Wong, Pacific Basin Consortium, Hawaii;Bill Wiecking, SuperComputer, Maui, Hawaii;Karen Merman, formerly, LAUSD2 who was my host and introduced meto the vibrant team of IT specialists and District Technology ApplicationsFacilitators:Ted Snyder, Doug Williams, Joe Oliver, and Themi Sparangis ;Dave Gonzalez, Principal Pacoima Middle School, Los Angeles;Marya Moreno, IT Specialist, Fenton Avenue Charter School, SanFernando Valley;Marco Torres3, San Fernando Senior High School;Robert Alm, CEO California Credit Union;Tom Abraham, Principal John Marshall High, Glendale;Bruce Daley, peer reviewer, of the Clark County School District, Nevada,whose enthusiasm for IT in education has been inspirational.Thank you also to Glenace Melton, Karlene Lee and others maintainingthe CCSD resources and website.

1 Education Network of Australia, www.edna.edu.au2 Los Angeles Unified School District3 Apple Educator of the Year, 2000

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Michael Kinnaird, Advanced Technologies Academy, Nevada;Janet Dowbry, Gordon McCaw Elementary School, Henderson, Nevada.

At the State of Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, I thank JohnBeesman, Superintendent, Leah Nohr, Director of Instructional and MediaTechnology and Steve Saunders, IT Consultant. Jacque Potter fororganising my visits to WDPI and the Oregon School District.Wayne Bellcross, Director of Instruction, and Linda Scott, Director ofGifted and Able, Oregon School District;Ken Wiseman, Technology Co-ordinator, District 214, Illinois;Lois Scott, Dana Solomon and the team at Edventions Starship School,Skokie, Illinois;Elk Grove High School staff, Chicago;Niel McLean, Director of Schools, BECTA4,Clare Johnstone, Principal Manager of ICT, QCA5;Father Christopher Jamieson, Headmaster, and Kevin Alpin, Head of IT,Worth School, West Sussex;Paul Beedle and Peter O’Hagan, UCLES, Cambridge;Graham Harkness, Leosowes Community College;Mark Tredwin, IT Director, Weydon School, Surrey;Denis Cocks, King George V School, Hong Kong;Anne Poole, Hong Kong International School.Jeanie Paton for proof-readingLyn Brooks for the publication of this paper,Rosemary Hipkins, Wellington College of Education, and Carol Moffatt,Ministry of Education, New Zealand for their peer reviews, interest andencouragement.

My heartfelt thanks to you all.

Gillian M. EadieMarch, 2001

4 British Educational communications and Technology agency5 Qualifications and Curriculum Authority

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IntroductionTwo major influences have impacted upon education for students inprimary and secondary schools in New Zealand and world-wide. Firstly,the rapid development of information and communication technologiesand secondly, the deep questioning taking place regarding what a studentwill be required to know and be able to do to succeed in the twenty-firstcentury.

School responses to each of these influences have inevitably brought aboutchanges: changes in the curriculum, in the way teachers redesign andpresent the curriculum, in the uses made of resources and the way currentclassrooms and buildings are being reconfigured. These specific aspectswere researched in selected schools recommended by administrators andeducators in each of the four countries visited.

This paper pre-supposes that readers will already be well aware of thedesirability of integrating computer use seamlessly into the schoolcurriculum and will be familiar with widely accepted classroom practiceinvolving computer use. Empowering learners to engage in meaningful,challenging and enlightening tasks is the aim of all educators and ICT hasa powerful role to play in this in every school classroom and beyond. Thisresearch moves beyond current practice and seeks to determine futuretrends.

Scarcity of resources, both physical and financial, make it imperative thatbest practice guide decision-making in schools regarding both planning forthe advanced use of ICT and the way in which buildings are changing tomeet identified needs of students.

Often school strategic plans are based on extensions of what is currentlyknown rather than on best practice models and ideas. It is my hope thatthis research will make available to interested schools, knowledge oftrends in UK, USA, Hong Kong and Australia, allowing schooladministrators to include further innovative thinking into planning for“Schools of the Future”.

Research Objectives

1. To determine current and possible future ICT trends in creating theschools of the future.

2. To explore the ways in which schools are changing their timetables,curricula and their methods of teaching in response to the use ofinformation and communication technologies (ICT).

3. To examine changing use of established buildings and to explore futureplans for the development of existing facilities.

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4. To highlight innovative practices in schools in Australia, USA, UK andHong Kong of value to New Zealand schools and to share the gatheredinformation with participants and education groups in New Zealand toenable effective planning for students of the future.

5. To facilitate communication between New Zealand schools and bestpractice schools in Australia, USA, UK and Hong Kong.

Scope Of The Study

In gathering data for this research, in 2000, I attended the NavigatorSchools’ Conference, Bendigo, Australian Computers in EducationConference, Melbourne and the Pacific Basin Consortium Conference inHawaii (where I presented a paper: What Every 21st Century Student Needsto Know). I visited schools, district technology facilities, administratorsand government departments in Australia, Hawaii, California, Nevada,Wisconsin, Illinois, England and Hong Kong. Inevitably, only a samplingof views and organisations could be included in my study and in Californiaand England, only some schools were open at the time of my visit. Priorinvestigations and discussions, however, enabled me to identify a cross-section of sources where I was likely to find answers relevant to myresearch questions.

Investigating these questions revealed a variety of philosophicalapproaches to the integration of ICT as well as a range of practicalsolutions in overcoming the universal problems of staff and student accessto computers, professional development for educators, security,maintenance, networks and internet access, funding and health and safetyissues. The scope of this paper obviously does not allow me to commenton all of these although some will be explored in the context of describingclassroom configurations.

It is also recognised that rapid advances in technology will inevitably“age” observations made in 2000. For this reason, I have endeavoured tofocus on categories of change, rather than describe projects in great detail.I am very willing to elaborate any areas of particular interest to educators6

and have digital pictures of most schools and facilities mentioned.

Findings have been organised and reported under the heading of each oftwo research questions.

Research questions

Is ICT use changing schools? No educator involved in schools during thepast decade could be oblivious to the expanding body of literaturesurrounding the introduction of computers into classrooms. During the1990’s, many took only an academic interest because computer access and

6 Contact Gillian.Eadie@marsden.school.nz

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their own knowledge of this new tool was limited, and teaching styles andexpected educational outcomes seldom included using computers. Forthose who were early excited about the possibilities of information andcommunication technologies, frequent opportunities arose to meet anddiscuss ways computers could be used to enhance classroom activities.

The advent of the Internet has rapidly advanced the numbers of teachersusing computers as an information source, but it is taking much longer forschools to respond significantly to this new medium than it has in thebusiness world. Computer use has the potential to transform the educationprocess for both learners and teachers. But has it? How fundamentally hascomputer use changed the way schools operate? . The experience of thosein other schools can often help prevent wasting money and teacher time onresources that have elsewhere proved of little use.

Two specific areas of change were the focus of my research:

1. How is the availability and use of ICT changing the use of existingclassroom spaces?

2. How is ICT use changing the way teachers and administratorsapproach curriculum delivery?

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Research Question One

How is the availability and use ofICT changing the use of existingclassroom spaces?

Introduction:

Most schools in New Zealand are over fifty years old with some, like myown, having existed for over a century. The classroom spaces we operatein were designed to reflect the traditional, transmissive style of curriculumdelivery with little, if any thought being given to investigation-based,group learning, let alone fibre-optic cabling. While some funding isavailable for renovation and rebuilding, the reality for most schools is thatexisting spaces must, in the short term anyway, be adapted toaccommodate new learning technologies.

Thinking differently about teaching spaces

The arrival of even one computer in the classroom can have a profoundeffect on the way students learn and the way the classroom operates.Teachers integrating computer use into the curriculum, soon modify theirclassrooms to reflect the changes in student learning behaviour thatinevitably emerge. Creating space in the classroom for computers andperipherals such as a printer, network connection and large monitorinitiates a rethinking process by the teacher, leading to re-evaluating howclassroom activities and learning experiences work best.

Early responses to ICT often involved creating a technology centre, ordedicated building to house computers and peripherals, with students beingtaken to these facilities when work with computers was needed. Computerlaboratories were developed with classes being booked in for whole classuse of the technologies; this arrangement still exists in most schoolsvisited. Alongside the laboratories, however, a variety of solutions hasdeveloped, enabling in-class access to computer facilities and it was thesearrangements that were of interest in this research.

Little research has been carried out into the effects of room arrangementon children’s learning. Stephen Heppell7, at the ACEC conference in July2000 asked: What do we know about the placement of tables inclassrooms? What are the relationships of children inside the classroom tothe outside world? Are we creating barriers to the outside and adults with

7 Professor, Anglia University, UK, originator of UltraLab, NotSchool.com

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our classrooms? Where should the computers be?8 This paper reflectssome answers found by educators.

The anytime, anywhere access to information sources, “ubiquitous”computing, enables students to engage directly with expert sources whenthey are needed and the sight, sound, touch experience becomes apowerful motivator in learning. Bernard Hollkner9 says, “The Cast ofPlayers in a student’s learning experiences has increased dramatically.Convergent technologies now allow experts, peers and collaborators tojoin the student’s world, enriching learning experiences.”

Professor Hedley Beare in 199810 saw the role of the teacher becomingmore fluid and covered by “a range of professional educators – tutors,instructors, mentors, learning theorists, curriculum planners and experts,assessors, curriculum writers, assignment markers, editors and studentcounsellors”. A mix of on-site and distance programmes seems a likelymix for the student of the future.

What is the Ideal Classroom?

Brett Hunter11 believes today’s classrooms need Internet access forresearch, distributed multimedia curriculum on line, access to digitallibraries, distance education courses and remote collaborative tools.Information on demand for students also includes video, live videobroadcast, desktop videoconferencing and 3D modelling. “The use ofvoice (for activities such as interviews, speeches, background music,explanations) and Video (for live conferences within and between schools)will change the way schools operate”.

Tomorrow’s classroom

Paul Butler, Head of Information Technology at Caulfield GrammarSchool, Melbourne, believes classrooms will be characterised by:

• access to on-line resources which use a powerful combination of video,multimedia, text and graphics, prepared by specialists in a centralisedresource development facility and delivered to individuals or groups bytechnology

• provision for the teacher to teach the whole class or part of the class,assisted by technology as appropriate

8 Paraphrased by writer9 Faculty of Education, Monash University, speaking at ACEC Conference, Melbourne, 200010 IARTV Seminar Series, quoted in Schools Without Walls, David Campbell in Independent Education Vol. 30/No 3, October 2000

11 Industry Development Manager 3COM. ACEC 2000

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• provision for all students to learn the same way or to choose wayswhich suit their own individual learning styles, assisted by technologyas appropriate

• access to individualised curriculum pathways, managed by technology

• access to individualised diagnostic testing and assessment of progress,managed by technology

• students moving independently between learning areas as necessary,managed by technology

• flexible room layout and furnishing

• large-screen video display

• individualised access to network resources – wireless networking;cheap, light-weight notebook computers; e-books

• continuity of access to network resources away from school

So what is really happening inclassrooms?My research revealed that, although some classrooms remain apparentlyuntouched by technology, many classroom configurations have changed toincorporate easy access to the computer(s) and to facilitate the discussions,problem solving and decision-making that inevitably follow their use.

Schools in my research group made a number of differing responses toICT. Through grouping these responses, I have created the following listof observed trends in the use of classroom spaces with ICT:

• Rearranging the Classroom

• Creating New Spaces From Old Configurations

• Providing Centralised, Shared Facilities

• Creating Dedicated, Flexible Classroom Space

• Developing Virtual Classrooms And Campuses

• District Networks Creating Learning Communities

• Web Hosting By An External Provider

• Classroom Redesign For Maximum Flexibility

• Wireless Technology Offers New Options

• Changes In Traditional Library Areas

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Re-arranging the existing classroom

My most frequently-viewed, changed classroom design involved creatingthree main areas for student use: grouped and networked computerfacilities, student desks facing a whiteboard and monitor linked to theteacher’s computer and an area designated for group-working space. Insome smaller rooms, the latter was created when needed by rearranging thedesks to form groups. Adjustable chairs and/or desks enabled safe use ofcomputers for students.

No “front” to the classroom

Classrooms at John Paul College, Brisbane reflected computer use inseveral ways. The aim is that old and new spaces are no different inoperation: flexibility and power being the keys to successfulprogrammes.12 Older classrooms have been adapted for use with newtechnologies13 by installing more power points and benches. Two roomswith connecting doors have been rearranged to enable more group,presentation and combined class activities. As the teacher explained,“having a board at both ends means there is no front to the classroom,anymore”. A pervasive air of purposeful activity surrounded the class:groups of desks were placed close to network points (although the growthin wireless technology will soon free up this restriction); a centrally hungscreen allowed another group of children to view a data-show presentation.Tables of resources were placed near groups and a printer, scanner andmonitor were on a mobile trolley. The two rooms work together and shareresources.

Sharing resource spaces

New classrooms are built around a central, well-equipped, soundproofedwet resource space which each of the four classrooms used for Art,withdrawal groups, remedial assistance or project work. All of theseclassrooms used wireless technology, all classrooms have a large TVmonitor/display (“couldn’t function without this”) and classes had a small“sound” room at the rear of classroom for recording in multimediapresentations. Flexibility is important to the operation of the classroom.

Easily-moved desks

Movable desks in classrooms are individual and can be reconfiguredfor the many different functions in the room (“we used to have tables butfound them too constraining of activities”). Wireless cards were stored in awall-hung, individually named organiser, enabling the teacher to see at aglance whose cards (very expensive!) were in use. Each day began with 30minutes of basics using notebooks – spelling, mathematics facts, journaltime and keyboard skills.

12 Aidan McCarthy, Director of IT13 This is a Laptop school

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“This gets students into correct habits of unpacking notebook,storing bags, checking for functionality”14.

Security needs to be managed

Security is a big issue at JPC; before leaving classrooms, windows, lightsand doors must be checked. On-site security checks are made each breakand lunchtime and teachers who forget are named. Routines are important.

Shared software

Le Fevre College, Adelaide enables computer group work to take placeby arranging seven computers in an oval central “island”, screens andkeyboards outwards, and using shared software 15. Each student in thegroup can add to the combined project from their individual keyboard andthe combined project can be viewed and shared by all.

Configurations evolve with use

A great deal of research went into setting up the classrooms at AdvancedTechnologies Academy, Las Vegas, a school that is only five years old.The English classes comprise PC's on benches around the walls, largeareas of space for movement and other activities and a set of circular tablesfor students to work at in groups. In Mathematics, the classrooms wereoriginally set up with each student having a PC on the desk, two largemonitors at the front of the class and the rear wall of the classroomcompletely mirrored so that the teacher could see the PC screens from thefront of the room. After two years, that set-up changed as the teachersrealised that computers were not used all the time in class. Now thecomputers are ranged along each of two walls with a large monitor at thefront of each row. Desks are arranged in the middle of the classroom forwhole-group teaching and the teacher’s demonstration desk (in allclassrooms) comprises a computer, video, monitor (connected to the twolarge monitors) and printer.

Creating a Business Centre Model

Vanguard School, District 214, Illinois is the result of rethinking the needsof students who have not succeeded in the traditional school model. Therooms have been redesigned to replicate a fully equipped, modernbusiness centre, complete with a reception foyer. All curriculum subjectsare integrated and project-based, so students do not study English,Mathematics, Science …. There is one computer to every two students andno classrooms: they are conference rooms. Classes became workgroupsand appropriate styles of address and appearance are expected when thestudents undertake work experience in community businesses. A high level

14 Head Teacher, Jan McNamara15 Zing Technologies

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of success has been experienced with students although other schools inthe district have not taken up the model.

Central “island” in the classroom

At Weydon School, Surrey, the ICT teacher changed the rows of deskspointing forwards style of classroom to creating a central island in theclass with an interactive whiteboard on the end wall. This arrangementenables a more easily monitored, friendlier environment.

Creating new spaces from old configurations

At MLC, Melbourne, in the late 1990’s, a long block of ten “shoe-box”classrooms was rebuilt to form four large, flexible glassed-in teachingspaces with teacher conference rooms in between. The walls of theconference spaces were also glass, enabling staff to view student activities.The new spaces were designed to allow maximum student space bothinside the “classroom” and in the outer corridors, carpeted and stepped toprovide student seating. Network access points were arranged in theseareas as well as in the classrooms.

In the Oregon School District, Wisconsin, within the old footprint of thebuilding, a large, flexible space was created where movable wallsseparated off teaching spaces while a shared, central resource spacecontains abundant computer and presentation resources. These are used co-operatively among teachers and collaboratively on cross curricular andclass projects.

King George V School, Hong Kong is developing a shared workspacefrom two “old” classrooms. “The layout of the classroom has changedfrom each student needing a computer on his or her desk, because teacherscan now assume that students have all the necessary computer skills so canconcentrate instead on teaching Business Studies, using the computers asand when appropriate. The design includes a glassed teacher spacebetween the two classroom areas to reduce teacher isolation, enablesupervision of other teachers, ease of movement between classes andopportunity for team teaching and planning.”16

Both classrooms are set up with computers around the perimeter of theroom and work tables grouped in diamond-shaped “islands” in centralspace. A whiteboard was placed in the teacher’s teaching space.

Workshop spaces, formerly assigned to industrial arts education, haveproved to be excellent in housing ICT facilities. At Pacoima MiddleSchool, San Fernando, a visionary teacher, to offer students experiences inapplied computer technology, has transformed a former workshop. Theroom comprises sixteen bays, large enough to allow adequate workingspace for two students and the equipment involved in e.g. Virtual

16 Head of Department, Economics

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Architecture, Aerodynamics, Robotics, Digital Music, Computer-AidedDrafting, Telecommunications, Health and Fitness or other activity.Students apply the skills they are learning to a real task and spend twoweeks of their allotted time on each activity. A similar concept, producedby a different company, was successfully being implemented in previousworkshop space at higher secondary level at King George V School, HongKong. Tasks here included: Industrial Control Technology, ElectronicsTechnology, Robotics and Automation Technology, Mechanisms,Materials and Processes, Aerodynamics (wind tunnel), Pneumatics,Multimedia, Graphics and animation.

At Elk Grove, District 214, Chicago, Illinois, the Applied TechnologyLaboratory has been created through the combined effort of industrial artsand science staff. Again, two-student booths have been created in alarge space and students work through a series of applied technologymodels.

San Fernando Senior High School has been successful in gaining fundingfor a huge computer facility, the design resulting from school research.Housed in a disused industrial arts space, the Community InspirationCentre will house sixty–four IMacs, videoconferencing room, digitalimaging and editing facilities, blue filming room, Think Rooms and a hugevideo wall for image projection.17

“There was a “huge battle to get this room for IT; the Boardwanted to build an auto shop so that graduates would get jobs inthe automotive industry – but Ford downsizing had a huge impacton this community and I finally convinced them that IT is the wayof the future”.18

Providing centralised, shared facilities

Providing leading-edge facilities and ICT equipment in a centralisedenvironment has enabled students from many schools access to learningtechnologies that would otherwise not be available to them. This is thesolution chosen in Adelaide where the DETE19 has established theTechnology School of the Future 20, a spectacular district technologycentre . TSoF is a highly sophisticated project with 11 specially set up labswith the latest technology in every curriculum area. State of the art inMusic, production and editing; CAD, pneumatics, and other technologies.Music suite has presentation area with smart lighting, curtains, soundoperated from footpad sensors; smart workstations with cabling andspecial effects mounted under the centre of elevating tables. It is a teacherand student training facility with skilled ICT trainers where teachers canbook to bring classes for short or long term projects.

17 Plan available18 Marco Torres, IT Coordinator19 Department of Education, Training and Employment South Australia20 www.tsof.edu.sa.au

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Creating a dedicated, flexible classroom space

Keeping one, fully equipped classroom space to be shared by a block ofsix or so classrooms has enabled teachers at Caulfield Grammar inMelbourne access to computers for a whole class. The room can beconfigured to suit an individual teacher’s needs with 16+ network outlets,PC’s on trolleys that can be placed to suit and a set of laptops permanentlyavailable (stored in a security locker in the room).

Creating virtual classrooms and campuses

Creating a virtual classroom space where students can log in and findcourse notes, resources, worksheets and teaching tips enables students whoare home-bound, out of school for sport or cultural activities or onfieldtrips, to maintain contact with their coursework and teacher. Manyschools are now pursuing this method of improving services to studentsand their families. Caulfield Grammar, Melbourne links all five campuses(one in China) through their Virtual Campus .

“One of the school’s aims is to establish a network of learninginstitutions around the world, linked together through strategicalliances and sharing best practice through the exchange ofstaff and students and the use of learning technologies.”21

See also Denbigh OnLine, UK.22

At John Paul College, Queensland, where each student has a laptopcomputer, course outlines, assignments, key teaching points and researchsuggestions are all available on the school intranet. Remote accessenables student, parents and school community members to access these“anytime, anywhere”. This individualised learning capability has allowedfor individual differences in learning while clearly delineating the learningoutcomes required at each level.23

Using Oracle software, (Think.com) Netherhall, UK24 have created an on-line community of students, most staff and parents with Internetaccess at home or work. This has “torn down the classroom walls” andenables teachers to utilise the home computers to extend the school’scapabilities. On-line communications are enabled and students can workon projects from both school and home. Students who are ill or absent forother reasons can maintain contact.

Bendigo Senior Secondary College, Victoria, host of the NavigatorSchools’ Conference in July 2000, has a highly developed intranetenabling each student and staff member to access course informationreadily. Aiding individualised learning has been a key goal for BSSC

21 Caulfield Grammar spokesperson, quoted in Educare News, May 200022 www.denbigh.net23 Also www.kingscollege.school.nz , www.kgv.edu.hk24 www.netherhall.cambs.sch.uk

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and the school provides an impressive role model for others in ICTprovision for staff and students.

Starship School, created by Edventions in Skokie, Illinois, is an exampleof a commercially developed virtual school which existing schools canadopt to supplement the resources and administration services theyalready have in place. Starship School provides validated, “kid-safe”databases of on-line resources, teaching plans, self-marking modules andthe provision is expanding all the time. Web-based administration systemssave schools time and staffing and a fully developed, on-line fundraisingservice has been well received.25

Schools linked to share classrooms and teachers

A District Interactive Classroom comprising classrooms replicated infour or eight schools was viewed at Edgewood College, Madison andOregon, Wisconsin. These distance learning facilities operated not on thevideoconferencing principle but were interactive so that what washappening in each classroom could be seen and participated in by each ofthe connected classrooms. Each room was equipped with a bank ofmonitors at the front and rear of the room, each monitor showing adifferent participating class. A roving video camera in each classroomautomatically focussed on the person speaking. Each student in eachparticipating classroom had a microphone mounted on their desk and whenhe or she asked a question, the camera moved in to film the speaker andthe image was displayed on the screen.

One classroom led proceedings and the teacher had a document camera,video, data-show and other presentation equipment to use in the course ofa lesson.

Although resource intensive, these classrooms offered an excellentopportunity for schools to share scarce experts and to bring distantclasses together for research projects. In Oregon, a community BookDiscussion Group used the facilities to excellent effect.26

District networks creating on-line learning communities

Developing the virtual classroom concept even further, school districts inthe USA are using highly developed networks to bring all publicschools in the district together in a collaborative way. Each teacher,student and administrator becomes a participant in the LearningCommunity. The Clark County school district, Nevada is an excellentmodel of this approach. Their Technology Development Services division,through the network InterAct, “concentrates on fast-tracking innovation”.27

InterAct hosts web pages for all schools, provides Internet access for teachers

25 www.starship.com26 Pictures of this facility available27 Bruce Daley, Technology Development Services, Clark County School District, Nevada

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and students (8000+ accounts) and provides a platform for collaborativeresources. Teachers pay $12.50 for a lifetime account, students are paid for bythe District. Students have to qualify for their computer Driver’s Licencebefore getting their account (computer, e-mail and Internet training)

“The network provides space where teachers get used to workingtogether – they collaborate and come up with inventive solutions.They use the contacts to teach each other and share resources.They get to know each other across 8000 square miles - thenetwork is creating technological capital.” Bruce Daley

Areas on the CCSD Network include:

Exchange – where a person who can be a “shared resource” e.g. USSenator or a Native American storyteller, is available for asynchronouschat and some real-time questions and answers. These programs arecached and can be video-streamed to all schools.

Policies and Regulations, District documents with a search facilityincluded.

Information for subject teachers, elementary and secondary; FOSS(Science on line), teacher tips, Classroom Connect (four scientists in thearea attached to projects); Special events e.g. the Treasures of Russiaexhibition, are used as a basis for digitised resources for the TV station andpicture videos on the network, printed resources are available for teachersto extend the knowledge gained on the trip to the museum.; Concert series(bands from schools in district).

QUEST – additional resources are made available for teachers throughKLVX, the public broadcast station – videos and broadcasts supplementclassroom teaching; field trips available in schools, requests for picturessent out and these requests allow sharing of resources and planning.

Professional Development opportunities offered on-line

Virtual Art Gallery is not a real art gallery at all. The digital art workschange every nine weeks and the lighting in the roof of the gallery changesdepending upon time the computer accesses the site. A library could be madein the same way, with orchestral concerts for the schools,28 Digital ArtExhibition published on CD for the district.29

It will soon be possible for students to place music auditions on the networkso music colleges all over the world can access them for scholarships.

Virtual School tour – so that residents can see what the planned school islike when voting to have it in the neighbourhood. (55 new schools are tobe built in the next 10 years).

28 Comment by Bruce Daley29 CD of Art Exhibition available on loan from the author

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After-school tutorial programme meets twice a week and all sorts oftopics are covered: health, nutrition, hygiene, music, arts, fine arts (thiswas a student idea).

Ask the Experts Students submit questions; research teams of high schoolstudents try to answer: if they cannot, university personnel work on thequestion. Each month there is a special focus e.g. in September/Octoberthere was a Mock Election, prior to the USA elections.

Junior Web Fifth Graders did not like some of the sites the adultsrecommended so came up with their own grading criteria – when they findsites they like, they submit their evaluation for inclusion on the network.The site of the week is featured. There are plans to do the same with BookTalks. Preparing items for the network develops children’s analyticalskills.

Global Village Students and teachers from schools from differentcountries form this. Schools from England, Scotland, Canada, Germany,Sweden, and New Zealand connect at night to discuss issues – e.g. armingPolice and they get to know each other and their views.

Private contact areas available for teachers or discussion groups.

Global moderators offer customised conferences for new teachers. Thisconcept would be very useful in New Zealand for those in their first five yearsof teaching.

“Social networks are very important in building the human capital of the district”30.

Other areas visited offered district-wide services to schools. Los AngelesUnified School District has created a virtual museum,31 offers districtinformation, professional development and has 2000 plus videos which theymake available on demand via network and, using high band width via cable,download educational programmes in “off hours”; schedules sent to schoolsand selections recorded on demand. (The Internet will soon supersede thistechnology.)

District 214, Chicago, Illinois,32 where the entire curriculum is available onthe website, offers data support, all registrations are on-line , cataloguingof all district databases (60+) on web. Livetext allows teachers to putup content on a webpage and enables them to offer on-line classes.Conferencing, calendar, fostering collaboration, conferences, students willhave email addresses throughout district. BadgerNet, Wisconsin links allschools that have suitable connections.

30 Bruce Daley, Technology Development Services, Clark County School District31 www.lausd.net32 www.dist214.K12.il.us

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The BECTA site, England33, Connecting the Learning Community, offers arange of national services including the National Grid for Learning site, aVirtual Teacher Centre providing information and resources for educatorsusing ICT.

The DETE network in South Australia DESCtech2001 (Department ofEducation and Children’s Services technology plan) has set up LAN’s inall schools with Internet connections. A state-wide LAN connects allschools with ISDN.

New Zealand’s Ministry of Education website34 offers national informationand Te Kete Ipurangi35 is the portal for on-line resources for the New Zealandeducation community.

The concept of on-line learning communities is fast developing and hasthe potential to transform the way teachers connect, collaborate andachieve professional development.

Web hosting by an external provider

In Hawaii, the Maui High Performance Computing Centre (MHCCP, to berenamed SuperComputer) is the largest Internet service provider(connected to over 600 ISP’s) and offers service hosting and can storeprogrammes for schools. There is an E-School with virtual spaces wherestudents log-on for real-time interactivity “like a sandbox”36 wherethey meet, discuss, share ideas and co-operate. Bill Wiecking believes thatChat and instant messaging will be important communication media inthe future.

MHPCC also offers:

ASP – Application Service Provider – e.g. allowing schools orcompanies to go to a page and do wages every Friday so there is no needto buy licences, or maintain software in workstations. Also they provideAutoCAD, a high cost application beyond the means of most schools,hosted by SuperComputer (MHPCC); students can log on, take the courseat their level, work and then save to the web. Students can log on at schoolor at home.

Sixty-two schools in the Hawaii Association of Independent Schoolsthrough the state are involved in a distance learning project throughSuperComputer. Remote coaching is also hosted and used as aprofessional development tool.

One school needed a computing teacher so is now videoconferencing witha school that has a teacher with 8 students. The teacher has on-line hours

33 www.becta.org.uk and http://futureclass.ngfl.gov.uk34 www.minedu.govt.nz35 www.tki.org36 Bill Wiecking, Manager of Educational Programs

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and class hours, but, as Bill Wiecking says, “this is not a total solutionbecause a class needs a “warm body” at times also”. A school has alsohired an astronomer in this way for a number of hours.

Videoconferencing chat with a shared whiteboard screen: Snapshots ofthe participants are represented on each screen connected to each of thenine participating sites – Boston, Hawaii, Maui, New Mexico and others.“Some participants appear in bathrobes to emphasise the time difference”.

Streaming media: Real media (what everyone uses for radio, TV andtaping movies for demand viewing) when hosted in a server enables up to2000 to watch a hosted video at once. For example, people in six or sevencontinents watched MaryKnoll’s MayDay celebration in Hawaii. (NB:There are only 200 students in this Grade School). Also, personnel fromthe University of Hawaii at Hilo audiostreamed, in Hawaiian language,interviews of “old” Hawaiians. There is now a database that allows you toselect the categories you want to access.

Digital Video – At Hawaii Preparatory Academy37, students make andedit digital films . All the video is recorded and edited at school anduploaded to the Maui server at night. Relatives in the mainland can hitthe server at night and view the films . Live screening of video ispossible also. Another project, SeeMore Turtles, involved students placingvideo cameras in a very secluded reserve, a turtle habitat. Waterproofcameras are aimed at the turtles and from the school, students can controlthe cameras and pick out the turtles they want to see.

Streaming Server – asynchronous : Because the streaming servercatalogues all of the contents, users can choose the item wanted and it willdownload just that. (“Rather than non-streamed where you used to have towait a long time and watch the whole thing. You don’t have to have bigconnection you can use a 28K modem.”)

Classroom redesign for maximum flexibility

The advent of ICT has allowed – many would say, demanded - theclassroom teacher to develop more individualised approaches to thelearning needs of students. The immediacy brought to classroomexperiences by contact with on-line experts, the world’s best libraries andencyclopaedias via the Internet means that curious students can learn farbeyond the planned lesson.

Using laptop computers

In the search for flexible teaching styles, schools in more affluentcircumstances have invested in, or engaged parents in the purchase of,mobile learning technologies (laptop computers, I-Books) for each student.Laptop schools proliferate through the countries involved in this research

37 www.hpa.edu

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and much is written to support the success of the 24/7 (twenty-four hours,seven days a week) access to ICT and the Internet for students.

District 214, Illinois is conducting research into the effectiveness oflaptop technology in learning using 90 IBooks with a wireless network.Pre and post research being carried out on both the control andexperimental groups for a year at least beginning January 2001. Twoidentical courses are being taught – one with 24/7 (24 hours, 7 days aweek) IBooks, the other without. Three test areas will be involved,English, Social Studies and High-risk students. Testing involves both anattitudinal survey and academic achievement, measured on standardisedtest. Every week students are given a survey to measure progress anddetect problems.

“We are trying to measure how student-teacher interactionchanges and whether the types of learning activities aredifferent with the application of technology.”38

Virtual Learning System (VLS)

At Fenton Charter Elementary School, San Fernando, a desktopcomputer has been supplied for each student from Grade Two, andchildren younger than this have ready access to computers for appropriatetasks. The school engages in a Virtual Learning System whereby allresources are digitally stored and children pursue individualisedlearning programmes. The dynamics of the class were quite differentfrom a traditional classroom and it was interesting to view a classroom ofGrade Six students who had been involved in the VLS since Grade Twoand whose new computers had not arrived by the end of the first week ofthe semester. Both teacher and students were finding the adjustment to awhole-class, “whiteboard and folder paper” environment difficult. It wasallowing more emphasis on handwriting, but the teacher said that she hadforgotten the “I’m finished. What will I do now?” syndrome as studentson-line always had personal investigations and research projectsunderway.

Desks, each with an IMac, were placed in groups of four or six in theyounger classes and in double rows, with students facing each other, in theolder grades. Storage areas for books, pens and resources were establishedbetween each computer and moveable dividers were placed betweenstudents for assessments.

Flexible facilities in Science

Science facilities at Edgewood, Madison aimed for flexibility by havingmobile bench units able to be networked via ceiling points. MichaelKinnaird39, when demonstrating the mobility of the science facilities,

38 Ken Wiseman District Technology Co-ordinator39 Advanced Technologies Academy, Nevada

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commented “fixing the teacher’s demonstration area in one place was amistake as it reduced the flexibility of other possible configurations”.

Redesigned science facilities at Worth and King George V School placedcomputer areas in one or two spaces in the laboratory, work desks/benchesfacing whiteboards and monitors, with practical work areas in easy reachof both.

For practical work in science at Parry Sound High School, NorthToronto40, free-standing bench units are made into required sizes fromtrapezium-shaped, movable components that can be reconfiguredaround central “cores” to which water, air, gas, electricity andnetwork points are directed. Further flexibility was gained by acomputer area extending into the generously-sized corridor. Acombination of a roller door inside the lab and lockable doors into thecorridor, enabled computers in this area to be accessed from thecorridor when the laboratory was not in use.. All computers used in theclassroom are linked to the teacher’s computer and display unit sodemonstrations can be made in the teaching area, facing the main monitoror via each individual student’s screen.

Portable Hubs

Over the past few years, schools such as MLC in Melbourne have createdthis flexibility to some extent by the use of portable hubs which provideup to 16 connections for student laptops from a single plug-in point thatconnects all sixteen to the intranet and Internet.

Tools for Flexibility

Laptop carts

Providing security, network connection and recharging for up to 30laptops, laptop carts, pictured on the front cover, were in use in many USAschools. A Teacher Assistant (TA) managed the cart maintenance andbookings. Able to be wheeled from classroom to classroom easily, thecarts give teachers flexibility through access to a class set of computerswhen needed without the space implications of permanent desktop PC’s.Lift access enabled their use in multi-storeyed buildings.

Interactive Whiteboard

Niel McLean41 cited the use of the interactive whiteboard (IWB) as a keytool for enabling teachers to transform their teaching activities. Connectedto the teacher’s computer and data projector, the whiteboard becomes a

40 Viewed in 199541 Director, Evidence and Practice, BECTA, UK

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touch sensitive computer screen, and changes made with light pens orelectronic erasers are saved into computer files.

Using the IWB to share prepared files with the class enabled closed,private and transmissive teaching (where teachers maintained control ofthe classroom), to move through stages to more open, collaborative andinteractive teaching styles. Control is thereby shared with the students andthe needs of varied groups within a class are met.

He explained the evolution in terms of Stages, Control and Arena:

STAGE CONTROL ARENA

First Stage Private PrivateTeachers controlled classes in closed classrooms

Second Stage Private PublicTeachers still controllingbut interactivity includes others(teacher still controls the IWB)

Third Stage Public PublicWhere teachers empowerstudents to organise theirlearning in an open arena

Jenny Noel-Storr, Head of Redhill Primary School, Shropshire42 believesthe IWB to be “dramatically successful”43 in enabling ICT use to permeatethe school. “The whiteboards combine with data projectors to giveteachers complete, touch-sensitive control of the computer from the frontof the class.”

Additional software can enable on-screen chat between teachers andstudents and remote control of the data from a student’s individual screen.

Using the IWB at Greensward College, Hockley 44, desktop documents canbe displayed (Word, PowerPoint, graphics etc) then adjustments madeduring the lessons are archived, with time and date, for recall andrevision. This has cut down dramatically the amount of photocopying,text and paper resources. Students who have missed lessons candownload these to take home . The school is preparing to create a 24-hourLifelong Learning Centre for pupil access anytime, anywhere.

42 http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/redhill.primary cited in ICT in Practice Awards, 2001, BECTA43 TES Online, January 5, 200144 The Classroom of the Future DfEE, 2000 http://futureclass.ngfl.gov.uk

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Portable presentation system

An interactive presentation station for the classroom could be wheeledbetween rooms and took up very little room. It comprised a hard drive, dataprojection, document camera and digital recording camera which enabledcomputer images to be displayed on wall and filmed as the teacher madeadjustments with a light pen during the lesson. Internet connection, keyboardand mouse were included and all were mounted on sturdy cart Lessons can beprogrammed in and all saved to network or hard drive for retrieval by studentslater.

Wireless technology offers new options

Schools are combining the use of wireless networks – connecting laptopcomputers within a radius varying from 50 metres to 30 miles45 - withalready established cabled networks. This provides “the ultimateflexibility” according to Marco Torres, Apple’s Teacher of the Year, whois the Technology Co-ordinator at San Fernando Senior High School,California. Picnic tables with shady umbrellas have been set up in thecourtyard outside the second-story main laboratory and students are able towork in more relaxed surroundings while still having connectivity.

H P Academy, Hawaii used wireless cards in their laptops whenstudying the regrowth of plants in a burnt out area. Students from differentareas of the study scene took digital pictures and downloaded them into acentral database. The school jeep, with a wireless broadcast antennabeamed the pictures back to school. They compared results on site andthe pictures were also discussed back at school. The teacher suggested anexpert on the mainland who could look at the pictures and comment onwhat they have found. Now the students are overlaying their data on to oldsurveillance maps and creating a useful resource.

At Hamakua, wireless broadcast antennae were set up in 5 schools toassist students who “do interesting stuff at school but have no power athome” (Power only on 2 hours a day.) They take laptops home and dointerviews of old people. Then download the information back to school.

Similarly, at John Paul College in Queensland, classes are gradually beingprovided with wireless cards for their laptops. Flexibility in classroomgroupings and activities has been enabled by freedom from having to beconnected to stationary network points.

Because WAN technology (wireless area networks) obviates the needfor costly cable infrastructure , schools embarking on ICT provision atthis time, could well save considerable expense.

45 Quote: Bill Wiecking, Maui High Performance Computer Centre, Maui, Hawaii (SuperComputer)

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Changes in traditional library areas

Resource-based learning has placed a heavy reliance on school libraries soI was interested to observe how learning technologies had changed theconfiguration and operation of libraries. All had computers available foraccessing catalogues and on-line resources and the most proactiveincluded facilities for students to create digital presentations . It wasseen as increasingly important to ensure that staff in the library understoodcurriculum objectives and had the will to become a “cybrarian”.

Media centres where computer access, digital presentation equipment andreference materials are combined in one central area e.g. Elk Grove,Chicago District 214 where the media centre comprises 100+ computersattached to library pending integration into single space. Separate writingroom adjacent.

MLC Sydney - the Independent Learning Centre is a four storeyedbuilding combining laptop service centre (ground floor) integrated libraryand IT services on each floor; fiction area and multipurpose space on topfloor. Double-glazed, silent reading and study rooms are incorporated oneach floor and computer suites are located on two floors.

Worth School, West Sussex – Featured an Integrated Learning Centrecombining their computer training laboratory with reference and fictionresources.

Oregon, Wisconsin – Information Centre also distributes video ondemand to teachers in classrooms . The keypad on the telephone in eachclassroom has the dual function of video control.

The Resource Centre at John Paul College, Queensland, (library)comprises Fiction Lounge, IT teaching area with screen and projector,research area, multimedia teaching room attached with removablewalls and Primary library area. The laptop station with screen and printerprovides a space where students have free use of scanners, printers, data-projector, video, and monitors to connect to their laptops.

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Research Question Two

How is ICT use changing the wayteachers and administratorsapproach curriculum delivery?

The impact of ICT on student learning

Much has been written elsewhere regarding ways ICT can be used in theschool curriculum and these are not included in this paper, except by wayof illustration. My research focused on curriculum practices reflectingfundamental changes in understanding about how the new technologiescould support and enhance learning.

The Need For ICT Integration In Schools Recognised

In each of the countries visited, national authorities recognised the need forchange to integrate ICT into curriculum delivery. In the USA, IT standardshave been produced and in the state of Wisconsin, IT standards have beendeveloped and published directly relating to curriculum standards. Fundingdiffers from state to state e.g. centralised in the LAUSD: governmentfunding supplemented by a private fund-raising for innovation through aPublic Education Foundation in Nevada. In the UK, guidelines have beenpublished (IT booklet) although Director of BECTA, Niel McLean statedthat OfSted evidence suggests that schools in UK are bimodal regardingICT. “A significant group (30%) are at the leading edge, there are otherswho haven’t begun to grapple with it at all.” Each state visited in Australiademonstrated a commitment to ICT in schools with Victoria and SouthAustralia devoting high levels of funding to support the development oftechno-literate graduates.

Research studies have identified the key changes in student learningbehaviour attributed to the use of computers, the Internet and otherlearning technologies.

Researchers Robert Bracewell of McGill University, Therese Laferriere ofLaval University and the consulting firm of Reginald Gregoire, Inccollated summary observations and reference points from a wide range ofresearch papers pertaining to the integration in the classroom ofinformation and communication technologies.46 Their results groupedfirstly, around the specific learning achieved, student motivation and therelationship of students to knowledge. Secondly, they grouped

46 Full paper at http://www.fse.ulaval.ca/fac/tact/fr/html/impactnt.html The Contribution of New Technologies to Learning and Teaching in Elementary and Secondary Schools

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observations related to the consequences of appropriate use oftechnologies on the teaching function of teachers, including planning ofteaching, intervention with a group of students and the assessment oflearning. They identified “participants having knowledge and skill incomputer use” as a prerequisite to effective classroom use and noted thatmany studies researched did not deal with this issue for students orteachers.47

Changes in student behaviour attributed to ICT

Their fourteen observations relating to the changes brought about byeffective classroom integration of ICT were as follows:

1. The development of various intellectual skills is noted e.g. reasoningand problem solving, learning how to learn and creativity.

2. Specificity of what is learned using the new technologies is broadenedand deepened.

3. Students demonstrate a greater spontaneous interest in a learningactivity

4. The time and attention devoted to learning activities increases whenstudents use ICT.

5. The ease of access to information sources develops the research spirit.

6. Broader co-operation among individuals within and beyond school isenabled through technologies.

7. The availability of simulation, virtual manipulation, graphicrepresentation and rapid merging of data contributes to linkage inknowledge and leads to more integrated and better-assimilatedlearning.

8. Teachers gain information on new instructional resources andavailability of support for their use much more readily with ICT.

9. Teacher co-operation with others both within and beyond the schoolwhen planning activities.

10. The orientation of planning is more towards students performing realwork in co-operation with other students.

11. Relationships between teachers and students more interactive andguiding, rather than transferring information from teacher to student.

12. A different vision of teaching and learning; learning seen more ascontinuous research than a body of facts.

47 .This is an important pre-service issue for teacher training. New Zealand teachers are currently being encouraged in ICT skill development through the Ministry of Education technology school clusters throughout the country. See also the Navigator Schools’ project in Victoria.

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13. Assessment of learning uses more demanding methods

14. More effective diagnosing of specific difficulties.

It is of critical importance that changes such as the above beaccommodated when planning suitable programmes of learning for21st Century students.

Curriculum Changes Need to be Planned

Marie Jasinski48 states:

“There are eight defining principles education will have to meet in order to satisfy market demand in the knowledge economy with its convergent technology infrastructure.”

These are:

1. lifelong learning

2. learner-directed learning, with the teacher becoming the facilitator,diagnostician and therapist

3. learning to learn so that individuals can plan and realise their ownlearning

4. contextualised learning

5. customised learning, designed to meet different needs, preferences andcultural practices

6. transformative learning, enabling the changing of belief systems toovercome disability and disadvantage

7. collaborative/co-operative learning

8. just-in-time learning, as individuals choose from the globalsupermarket of opportunities.

These combine to give a radically changed model of education from lastcentury’s teacher-centred schools delivering set curricula, chosen andsequenced by the teacher. Students respond intuitively to technologies thathave surrounded them all their lives. For them,

“the Internet is instantly interactive and the user can controlwhat happens. It responds to the individual and is anempowering medium that allows them to do things that theirteachers don’t understand or can’t do.”49

48 TAFE, South Australia Teaching and learning Styles that Facilitate On-Line Learning49 David Campbell. Independent Education, October, 2000

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So how far have we come in achieving the desired student-centredclassrooms, featuring a range of teaching and learning styles andtechnologies with ‘the teacher’s voice one among many’?50

Not far enough, is the short answer.

Reasons for Delay in Integration of ICT in Schools

In 2000, a group of New Zealand secondary school staff cited thefollowing reasons for the delay (in no particular order).

n Teachers’ lack of ICT qualificationsn too little time to plan and learn the skills effectivelyn student anxiety to learn only what would be tested in examinationsn lack of money leading to limited access to computersn expensive softwaren timetable restrictionsn lack of creativityn limited availability of equipment such as data projectorsn unwillingness to changen difficulty in linking ICT to the curriculumn needing IT facilities in classrooms rather than laboratories

Equity issues were identified as an inhibitor in some states in the USA as itwas held unfair to promote the activities of one particular school until allschools had the connectivity and ability to benefit from an IT programme.Consequently, while IT enthusiasts celebrated the work of individuals andvisionary schools, they felt frustrated that similar initiatives could notproceed state-wide.

The Use of ICT is Changing the Ways Schools Operate

Changes are occurring, however and these will be discussed under thefollowing headings:

1. Rethinking The Timetable

2. Growth Of On-Line Learning

3. Rethinking What Is Being Taught

4. Real-Life Learning Experiences

5. Teachers Collaborating To Share And Develop Expertise

50 Paul Butler , Caulfield Grammar, Melbourne

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Rethinking the timetable

Debunking myths about timetabling

Niel McLean,51 applauds the schools using IT tools to enable the kind ofdata collection that helps schools make informed decisions andchoices. “For example, there is a myth that you can’t have doubleMathematics on a Friday afternoon – but is this so? How do we know?Tracking test scores to find out if there is a significant difference is nowpossible because this myth is a timetable constraint that is not necessarilytrue.” Schools can now be more flexible with timetabling and schoolorganisation. To measure effectiveness, data can be collected afterchanges and tracked. Schools are receiving much quicker and morereliable feedback with IT.

Do all subjects need to be timetabled?

MLC, Sydney reviewed subjects being taught and identified Music as onethat could be tailored to meet the needs of students without beingtimetabled in the regular way. Excellent facilities are available to studentsand all music is taught on a contract basis rather than permanent staffbasis.

Staff mapped the Music curriculum, outlining the key competencies ineach area of the course - aural, musicology, composition, performance.They created a grid of these and tasks and assessments for eachoutcome.

Most music teachers do not have classroom lessons. Years 9, 10 and 11Music is scheduled at same time and if a student or students need classcontact, they get it. Music is still on students’ individual timetables andthere is a Year 9, 10, 11 Resource person for each group of students.Students log on to “Trackit” where tasks and assessments are recorded.There is a composer in residence who gives student time; studentperformances, including all extra curricular activities, have beenbrought into the curriculum and gain credit.

Breaking out of the timetable “straitjacket”

In the Year 7 and 8 area, MLC, Sydney, have created a more flexibletimetable to provide a “line day” every second Tuesday. Everydepartment wanting to be involved gives one period a week so that every6 weeks they gain a full day for that subject e.g. English, Humanities.

51 BECTA, UK

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There are two compulsory staff team meetings per week; the MathematicsDepartment opted out of line day so Maths lessons are not scheduled for aTuesday. Because Languages have only two classes per week, they do notgive up a period for line day. All exams to be held on Tuesdays (no homeroom times on Tuesday)

Line Day has lead to more flexibility, more project - based study and theextended time of Line Day encourages teachers to plan time useeffectively.

At Leosowes, UK, every Friday is a Flexi-Friday, where one subject isstudied from 8.30 am until 1.30 p.m. For example, on the English Flexi-Friday, classes created Romeo and Juliet storyboards using the digitalcamera; they found sites within the school to stage scenes from the playand recorded their performances. PowerPoint presentations then made withpictures, text and sound.

Worth, West Sussex have a Learning Together Day where the timetable iscollapsed on a regular basis to allow Year 9 and 10 students to participate in alot of different learning activities, relating to learning needs. E.g. juggling,mindmaps, time management, memory development, miming and higherorder thinking skills.

Advanced Technologies Academy was established 5 years ago with a cleartechnological vision “which teachers are coming to terms with”.52 Traditionaltimetabling was holding back achieving the IT vision for the school so, toovercome these drawbacks, the school now operates on 8 classes a day forthree days with a block schedule for 2 days : 6.45 am until 2.05 each day.

To create more flexibility for students, classes in the Oregon School DistrictHigh School are scheduled in 90-minute blocks, with five teachersallocated to one hundred and twenty-five students. This allows for morecreative approaches in curriculum delivery and requires advanced planning toensure that the needs of students are being met. All school organisation isbased around the House concept.

Growth of on-line learning

Web-Based Courses

A key area of rapid growth has been that of on-line learning, both in web-hosted environments and in packaged form on CD. The use of web-basedcourses is proliferating in Australia and the USA. Schools are providingwider curriculum choices and more individualised programmes throughthe use of web courses; home-based students of all ages are now able tochoose courses and gain qualifications from a widening range oforganisations.

52 Principal, Michael Kinnaird www.atech.ccsd.k12.nv.us

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www.ultralab.net, www.notschool.com and www.vsg.edu.au are examplesof web-hosted, virtual classrooms where the students may be distant fromthe teacher and resources.

Curtin University, Western Australia53 has developed a comprehensiveoffering of on-line courses, qualifications and resources for educators.

Consortia of Schools

Co-operative ventures between schools are being developed e.g. FloridaHigh School54 and The Concord Consortium, in New England,43 where aconsortium of 10 school districts has combined to create a virtual school. Eachagrees to provide a teacher and can enrol students in proportion to the numberof teachers provided.

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation announced55 “a joint venture witheighteen leading universities to tap the global higher education market. Thisconsortium, called Universitas 21, includes the University of Melbourne,University of Queensland and University of New South Wales, and itrepresents … the birth of a private, global, virtual university controlled byNews Corporation, which will purchase and deliver course content via itsInternet, interactive satellite and television services.”

Technical Colleges in the USA are creating virtual high schools for practicalsubjects where they find it difficult to get teachers, and for advanced placementcourses. The models range from Correspondence School on-line to aproject-based method of delivery where a co-ordinator checks on studentsonce a week to see how work is proceeding.

Powerful School Intranets

Bendigo Senior Secondary College, Victoria is working with a softwaregroup to develop Year 12 certificate courses on-line. Twenty of theseVCE56 courses have been prepared, supplemented by courseware on CD.See www.xsiq.com. This company also has certificate subjects for NewSouth Wales and Queensland.

Staff at Netherhall Secondary School, Cambridge 57 developed CDresources that are now being put on the web. They are also involved in adigital TV trial involving 100 families which increases the interactivitypossible for students studying from home.

53 www.curtin.edu.au54 http://fhs.net Florida High School43 http://vhs.concord.org55 Education Age 31.4.2000, Australia56 Victoria Certificate of Education, Australia57 ICT Coordinator, Alistair Wells; www.netherhall.cambs.sch.uk

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OAC, Open Access College, Adelaide, is a distance education communitywith the school complex based at Marden. A range of technologies isused to deliver the curriculum: print-based, video, interactive CD,interactive conferencing screens with on-line audio-conferencingtaking place through the telephone for one-on-one or more students toa teacher. The multimedia production suite employs 11 people producinginteractive CD resources as well as contract work for communityorganisations. Careful analysis takes place as to which aspects of thecurriculum are best suited to each medium for teaching and learningeg for teaching graphing to two students, the interactive screen andcoloured “pens” were used so that the teacher could see what each studentdrew in response to the conversation.

Further web addresses for on-line learning institutions are provided in theAppendix.

Rethinking what is being taught

Authentic contexts

Teachers in schools using ICT effectively, soon find that much of therepetitive “busy work” and unreal, contrived exercises are no longerrelevant in an environment that allows students direct access to engaginginformation sources. This realisation has led to new approaches beingmade to curriculum content and the encouragement of information literacyskills development. Students are being encouraged to use higher orderthinking and given strategies for powerful learning in this newenvironment.58

Using Higher Order Thinking Skills

At John Paul College, Queensland, strong school policies regarding theintegration of IT and research in the curriculum have seen a greateremphasis on digital presentations; these have lifted senior scores and oralcommunication considerably. The “hunting and gathering” side ofresearch has been closed down resulting in much more analysis andsynthesis of information. 59 All assignments Years 8 – 12 have to besubmitted to HIS who checks resources available, higher order thinkingcontent and ICT content prior to approval being given. She thus has aglobal picture of what students are studying; works closely with academicstaff and Director of IT. Redesigning activities for digital form has beenchallenging and began with Social Sciences.

Because of IT projects in junior schools, the exercise book size has beenchanged to A4 with lines on one page and plain on next, printed

58 An excellent New Zealand primary school example of ICT integration can be seen at www.tahatai.school.nz59 Head of Information Services, Kerryl Fleming

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especially for JPC. This allows the seamless integration of handwritingand desktop publishing.

Revising course materials for on-line learning

For publication on the school Intranet, what is being taught has beenreviewed and rewritten by staff. Students can access the curriculum andfind sections entitled: Essential learning: Basic ideas, Themes,Assessments (self-assessments, major assessments), Concepts and ConceptChecks, What is being taught, Required Assignments, Useful resources,Key information and ideas, Things to follow up and Extension.

Providing Structures for Learning with ICT

At Worth School, Sussex, a strategy sheet is now used by all students forlonger assignments with the aim being to structure students’ thinking andencourage them to evaluate the best methods for approaching a task (whichmay not involve computer use).

Marco Torres60 requires teachers to complete planning guides prior to usinglearning technologies. They match their tasks with ICT and curriculumobjectives and must include HOTS61 components in their tasks.

Promoting Powerful Learning

Staff members at Glen Waverley Secondary College, Bendigo, usecomputer technology to support Teaching and Learning. There has been anunequivocal focus on theories of learning, brain research, powerfullearning, learning to learn, metacognition, visual organisers and otherthinking strategies. Principal Darrell Fraser’s keynote entitled Thinkingand Learning Skills: the last Hurrah? explored the essential ingredients increating and sustaining a learning community based on defining theThinking Curriculum.

The school mission is Developing Autonomous Learners . Do we teachthem to be autonomous? What do they need to be able to do? What ispowerful learning and how do we enable students to develop the skills tobe powerful in learning? How do we promote it?

To promote a thoughtful classroom, teachers have been trained instrategies to foster metacognitive processes, to learn and apply criticalthinking skills and use the language of metacognition.

GWSC ran a Learning to Learn programme for Years 7 to 9 with aTeaching and Learning coach supporting staff to make the changes neededto focus more clearly on thoughtful classrooms. There is school wide useof thinking “scaffolds” and organisers . For one semester, each class

60 Apple Educator of the Year, 200061 Higher Order Thinking Skills

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was withdrawn for 20 lessons (100 minutes a week), the aim being tomove from Thinking Skills to Thinking Classrooms. 62

All staff also went through the course so that there was a sharedunderstanding of what the terms meant – e.g. metacognition, co-operativelearning, etc

“Just in time” learning not “Just in case”

At the Technology School of the Future, Adelaide 63Sue Hollandsconducted research - 4MAT64 - into the effects IT has on Mathematicsteaching. IT enables “Just in time” teaching rather than “just in case”teaching. It is important that students gain the “big ideas/issues” in Maths,not just disconnected skills.

“Maths will encounter the most radical changes throughtechnology use: Some Maths will be more important, some willbe less important and some will become possible: HenryPollak”. Quoted by Sue Hollands at ACEC conference, 2000.

Providing real-life learning experiences

Advanced Technologies Academy, Nevada has a Business ApplicationsClassroom set up like a corporate office. Entrepreneurship, accounting, theuse of business laptops, fax, copier, phones are taught.. The room is dividedinto office cubicles, round meeting tables and a board table. The school alsohas a partnership with Metro crime Laboratory for their Criminalisticscourse. They were given a $100,000 ballistics matching machine; studentsstudy crime scenes and collect data on fingerprints and forensics.

Digital design students undertake commercial projects for the Las Vegasbusiness community.

Gold and silver mining is an important part of the history of Nevada. Fiveyears ago, two teachers at Gordon McCaw Elementary School, Henderson,Nevada65, asked permission to build a papier mache mine tunnel in theclassroom, to give the children an idea what it would be like to be a miner. Theidea grew and now the school has built a full-sized Silver Mine complex.Full-sized tunnels have been created with displays depicting the miningprocess and teaching areas. These comprise a Geology room, fossil dig,antique equipment displayed with modern technology. Animated figuresexplain the stories for the children e.g. the origins of the terms,Tommy-knockers and the horse-shoe.

62 Thinking About Thinking excerpt from Fogarty 1997 and other sheets63 Paper delivered at NavCon 2000, Bendigo Senior Secondary College64 Documentation available. Outline of a collaborative research project with all the planning documents, topics and approaches, skills and marking schedules. http://www.tsof.edu.au/LT.SA65 Principal: Janet Dowbry

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A group of senior citizens form the volunteer force to operate the free fieldtrips other schools make to the facility each year. Teaching resources areavailable on the Nevada school district network. Teachers bringing classeson field trips, come in for a day of training and preparing resources. Once theyhave completed the day’s training, they can book a field trip.66 Grade 4 and 5students are tour guides one day in 20 weeks and train with the seniorcitizens. Nevada history is in the Grade Four curriculum. Other communitypartnerships include speakers at Geology or mineral seminars, University ofNevada-Reno, McCaw School of Mines, people who mine crystals will putpictures on the web and are available to answer the students’ questions.

A CD of the McCaw Silver mine and other similar school-based field tripinitiatives (Marine Laboratory at McDougall, Whitney Mesa naturetrail.; Vandenberger Biosphere, dome built over courtyard; Lammas farm)has been prepared by Clark County School District.67

The Clark County School District assigns .5 of a teacher’s time to the MarineLaboratory and Nature Trail.

The world-wide Jason Project, which invites young scientists to participatevirtually in research of interest, this year is studying volcanoes in Hawaii.Students are encouraged to become involved and are prepared so they willhave plenty of interesting questions to ask. Nevada puts 19,000 studentsthrough the Jason Project.

Students at Netherhall, UK, go on virtual fieldtrips around the world,preparing visual stories so they can communicate without language (e.g.students in Prague; Chemistry exploring atmosphere of Venus and usingresearch to test spacecraft materials in the laboratory.)

The use of on-line experts at Netherhall, UK, enhances the curriculum forstudents. Emails sent out to the school family resulted in the identificationof over 30 people expert in their fields who are willing to respond toquestions posed by pupils (Head of Astronomy, footballer, dietitian, headgardener, voice recognition specialist et al.)

At Marshfield, Wisconsin, a group of students were taken on journey up theriver in birchbark canoes, retracing the voyages of 1790’s . They studiedthe original journals of the time (from the web) and students made multi-media presentations www.marshfield.k12.wi.us/socsci.html Also followedthis format when students studied WW2, interviewed veterans and createdtheir presentations. [Same website with /WW2 extension].

At LAUSD, Joe Oliver who visited JPL (Jet Propulsion Lab) and thePlanetary Society developed the Mars Rover Project at the time of the Marslanding. Teachers in different schools signed up to take part. Building andoperating the Rover has to be an integral part of the curriculum in Science andMaths (calibrating the Rover, Cartesian co-ordinates, physical sciences etc).

66 Supporting materials and slide show available. CD of other field trip sites at elementary schools.67 Copy given to the author

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Doing the project meets curriculum goals and satisfies appropriate standardsfor Grade 6, 7 and 8 level.

Each school dedicates an 8’ by 8’ space to be used by the Rover and buildsthe robot which has a video camera on top of it (operated by laptop). Thenthese are collected and redistributed to schools unknown to the makers. Thetask then is to create a map of the new area through processing the image datagained from the Rover. Students have to work as a team to enable sense to bemade of the data. A Laptop computer is used for co-ordinating the image dataand students have to deal with any breakdown problems as if they are fixingthem from Earth.

Teachers collaborating to share and develop expertise

In each of the areas visited, teachers had the opportunity to meet andcollaborate virtually through shared networks and web-spaces. These co-operative sharing and learning communities are transforming the wayteachers work and their attitudes towards sharing and learning from eachother.

In addition to the government provided virtual meeting places, individualschools, universities, philanthropic foundations and commercialenterprises are creating ways for educators and IT specialists to interactand collaborate.

In a time of rapidly advancing use of information and communicationtechnologies, the old model of an individual teacher isolated in theclassroom has gone. For students and teachers to effectively participate in,and benefit from, the global learning community, each needs now to reachout and share in the on-line opportunities available.68

68 See Appendix 1 for selection of sites

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ConclusionThroughout my study, there were visionaries, be they teachers, ICT co-ordinators, school heads or administrators in government roles, creatinglearning opportunities for students using ICT. Strategies for encouraging(or requiring) whole staff take-up of integrated curriculum use of ICT,features in the two to five year plans of almost all schools and educationdistricts visited.

“The terrifying thing about this technology is what it tells usabout the rate at which children learn”, Jenny Noel-Storr,Redhill Primary School, Shropshire.

Once ICT becomes an integral part of student learning, teaching styles andclassroom organisation cannot remain unchanged.

The Future of SchoolsWilliam West69 sees the future Australian student as

“ … one who may spend a few hours in a neighbourhoodlearning centre, primarily to help pick up social, sporting andcultural skills but possibly for some teaching and tutoring incertain subjects. This input could be followed by online tuition,possibly from home, with tutors drawn from all over thecountry or the world. The student might then log on to researchhis or her latest project, drawing on the latest information fromthe world’s leading libraries and research institutes”. The staffin this scenario will be more diverse, with a greater emphasison specialisation.”

During a panel discussion in July 200070, key features of schools in thefuture were identified as including:

• downsizing from overlarge schools

• collaborative endeavours will become more common among schoolsand districts

• there will be a greater emphasis on communication, community andcreativity for high, value-added organisations

• “the right connections and the right tools” become more important,emphasising the need for effective technologies

69 Education Review, Australia, March 200070 ACEC, Melbourne. Speakers Stephen Heppell, Bernard Hollkner, Sue McNamara, Lynne Schrum

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• interactive, asynchronous discourse becomes an important learningmethod

• simulations and virtual field trips become more common

• schools must recognise the need for authentic learning and that itcannot be assessed in old ways or against “old” criteria;

• students will spend less time on campus

• formalised relationships with experts will develop beyond school

• the learning process becomes dynamic, exciting and fun usingtechnology to learn in ways never before possible.

There will also be a continuing focus on ways ICT can streamlineadministrative tasks, giving students 24-hour access to learning resources.

Countries promoting developing ICT usage and integration to a higherlevel and most effectively to date, have been those with the most need toconnect to information and institutions e.g. to quote Bill Wiecking,“technology reaches over dangerous stuff like sea and desert for Maui andNew Mexico.” In Australia and New Zealand, too, both long distancesfrom Europe, Asia and the Americas, there have been real advantages inconnecting communities nationally and internationally. It is no surprisethen to find that best practice ICT use in schools and institutions withgeographic barriers to overcome, appear to be ahead of counterparts inother areas studied in this research.

It has also been noted that where rigorous examination systems andprescribed learning outcomes control the curriculum, it is much harder forinnovative use of technology in the curriculum to occur. While creativeuse of ICT has been observed in all schools visited, more timetableflexibility has been implemented in elementary (primary) schools and instates in Australia and USA where national external examinations do notdominate curriculum delivery, e.g. Queensland.

Information and communication technologies are beginning to have animpact on curriculum and classroom redesign in each of the four countriesvisited. The use of the information gained during this research will driveorganisations and individuals towards differing solutions in response to theneeds of their students and learning communities. Significant changesinvolving ICT are planned for in all regions over the coming five years andit is important that educators and administrators collaborate and learn fromthe mistakes, discoveries and best practice from other schools andresearchers. There is much to learn from each other and much to gain forstudents.

Technology is driving the future. The steering is up to us

(Seen in LAUSD IT office)

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BibliographyACEC Conference Proceedings CD, July 2000

Candace Thompson, Glenace Melton, SE Area Science Consortium:Community Science Museum (CD) Nevada, USA Version 2, April 2000

Crossing the Digital Divide from Imagine: News for the K – 12Community from Apple Vol. 2 No 3, April 2000. USA

Department of Education and Employment and Qualifications andCurriculum Authority Information and Communication Technology: TheNational Curriculum for England Key Stages 1 – 4, 1999

Clark County Public Education Foundation DreamScapes: A Digital ArtExperience (CD) Nevada, USA 2000

George Lucas Educational Foundation, Learn and Live, Editors Burnessand Snider. Nicasio, California, 1997 (Book and video)

ICT in Practice Awards: Showcasing Excellence BECTA, NGfL, TES, BTEducation, 2001

International Society for Technology in Education and U.S Department ofEducation National Educational Technology Standards for Students:Connecting Curriculum and Technology, USA 2000

Leading IT A joint publication of HMC and GSA, May 1997

Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education: Online LiteracyResource (CD) Version 1. USA

National Business Education Alliance: Technology Use Profile, State ofWisconsin, 28.6.2000

TES online; Computers in Education, 2001 A Digital Odyssey, January 5,2001

Alan Warhaftig, NBCT, The Curriculum-Priority Approach toTechnology: The Migration Project. The Media Literacy Project. FairfaxMagnet Center for Visual Arts, August 4, 2000

Towards the Classroom of the Future: Ideas in Action DfEE. UK, 2000

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Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Technology LiteracyChallenge Fund: IASA Title III – Technology FY 1999 Wisconsin summaryof Projects

Wisconsin’s Model Academic Standards (CD) Raising the Bar for allStudents, April 1999

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Wisconsin EducationalTechnology Plan PK – 12, 1996 (Revised 2000)

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Appendix 1

Supplementary website addresses

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

www.att.com/learningnetwork AT & T Learning Network. Resources,ListServs, Virtual Academy, professional development, On-line journal etal

www.highwired.net Global High School community; free web buildingand hosting service; classroom section; tutorials, collaborative, web-basedprojects

www.mff.org/edtech Education area of the Milken Family Foundationwebsite. Articles and downloads re learning technologies and on-linelearning environments

www.virtualhighschool.com Ontario secondary school, advice for parents

http://fhs.net Florida Virtual High School

www.cyberschool.k12.or.us students around the world taught entirely overthe internet; includes interactive textbooks with text, audio and video

http://online.usu.edu Utah State University distance education course.Excellent resources for students

www.scholars.com/scholars.asp On-line advisors mentor students 24 hoursa day, courseware

www.glef.org George Lucas Education Foundation, K-12 media materialsand website.

http://www.nettech.org/tc/common/listservs.html Listservs for Informationtechnology co-ordinators

www.newtechhigh.com Virtual High School, California

www.cpsr.org/home.html Computer Professionals concerned about theimpact of computers on society. Essays, newsletters, competitions et al

www.paly.net Digital School, Palo Alto High School

www.ccsd.net Clark County School District, Nevada

www.ccpef.org Clark County Public Education Foundation

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IBM REFERENCES

http://ceoforum.org

www.ibm.com/au

www.lotus.com/learningspace

UNITED KINGDOM

www.teachthinking.com

UK project site used by Glen Waverley Secondary College

http://news.bbc.co.uk

www.the-educator.co.uk On-line magazine for educators, curriculumoutlines and resources, assessment tools

www.englishonline.co.uk

www.mathsonlune.co.uk

www.virtualschool.co.uk Curriculum sent by e-mail, targeted at parents

www.standards.dfee.gov.uk/thinking

Dr Carol McGuiness From Thinking Skills to Thinking Classrooms

www.ultralab.ac.uk

Professor Stephen Heppell’s research and activities here. Also:notschool.com the virtual school set up for second chance students withUni students and adult experts (often retired) as mentors.

http://www.ecis.org/it/Index.htm Information Technology Resources forInternational educators

CANADA

http://olt-bta.hrdc-drhc.gc.ca/info/eljoue.html Electronic Journals related toLearning Technologies

AUSTRALIAN SITES

www.edna.edu.au/EdNA Education Network of Australia. Excellent on-line discussions for teachers, resources, information

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http://education.qld.gov.au Virtual School pilot where students log on andattend “real time” classes and interact with the teacher via voice orsoftware applications.

www.worldschool.com learning resources, tutor for homework assistance,QMAT’s (questions, models for an answer and tips) Infobank, Wordbank,Linkbank (thousands of other useful sites)

www.ngs.com.au Net Grammar School, soon to be opened in Sydney

www.xsiq.com Interactive curriculum modules for students, supported byuse of multimedia CD’s

http://www.tsof.edu.au/LT.SA (learning technologies/teaching plans)

www.linkideas.com (teaching ideas)

http://education.3COM/netprep (course for students)

www.vsg.edu.au (virtual school for the gifted)

NEW ZEALAND SITES mentioned in paper

www.tki.org.nz New Zealand Ministry of Education portal for educators

www.minedu.govt.nz New Zealand Ministry of Education website

www.marsden.school.nz Website address of Samuel Marsden CollegiateSchool, Wellington, New Zealand.

www.kingscollege.school.nz Kings College, Auckland, offering on-linecourses for distance students.

www.tahatai.school.nz Innovative primary school established as an ITschool

Further copies of this report may be obtained from:The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust

P.O. Box 10-345, Wellington, New Zealand.

It may be viewed digitally at www.marsden.school.nz orwww.tki.org.nz .

Educators, with appropriate acknowledgement of the author,may use the contents of this research.

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Appendix 2

About the Author

Mrs Gillian M. Eadie, M.Ed., BA., Dip.Tchg, LTCL, MCSNZ., MNZIM

Gillian Eadie’s career in New Zealand education includes speech therapy,intermediate and secondary teaching in government, co-educational andsingle-sex schools in Greymouth and Nelson. Her use of computers in theclassroom began in the early 1980’s and has encompassed multiplesoftware platforms, desktops and mobile technologies. She is currentlyHead of Samuel Marsden Collegiate School, an Anglican, independentschool for girls aged four to eighteen, in Wellington. Mrs Eadie has leadtwo other independent schools (St Oran’s College in Wellington, nowintegrated, and Corran School, Auckland). In each, she has beencommitted to preparing young people to succeed in a world changingrapidly from that of the present day and sees the development of ICT forstaff and students as fundamental in creating schools for the future. Apriority has been placed on developing staff capabilities and effectivenetwork and technical support infrastructure as precursors to inspiringteacher enthusiasm for integrating ICT into the curriculum. Enhancinglearning outcomes for students has been a lifelong passion and post-graduate work at Victoria University of Wellington focused on this as wellas organisational development and the management of change.

Mrs Eadie has presented at conferences in New Zealand, Australia and theUnited States of America and has lead workshops and seminars relating toICT use in schools and other topics pertinent to school leadership.

Published works include:“Parental Choice of Secondary School in the Hutt Valley” in EducationalResearch and the Future: Proceedings of the NZCER 60th anniversaryseminar27 May, 1994“Modularisation in New Zealand Secondary Schools - A Means toEnhance Learning: Myth or Reality?” Delta, Vol 42, 2 1997

A Winston Churchill Millennium Fellowship was awarded to Gillian Eadiein 2000.